Pricing at the Palms Resort

Last week I attended the Train the Trainer class put on by Ed Tate and Darren LaCroix of the World Champions Edge. Great class. There is always something new to learn, but that’s not the point of this blog.

They had arranged a special rate of only $49 a night for a room at the Palms Resort. What a great price. As a very frequent traveler, I haven’t paid $49 in years. And the Palms is a nice resort. My room was as spacious and clean as any 4 star hotel.

When I checked in the agent told me they had a $25 resort fee. Wow! A 50% up charge as a fee! The below is from the Palms website www.palms.com/faqs

The resort fee is a daily fee of $25.00 (plus applicable tax) that is charged at the end of your stay. This is a standard practice at the majority of the hotels in Las Vegas, we promise.
The resort fee includes:
Complimentary In-Room High speed internet service (faster rates available for additional fee)
Complimentary access to Palms Cardio Center & Palms Place Fitness Center
Shuttle Service to and from the Forum Shops 11AM-8PM Daily [please note hours may adjust some]
Daily Newspaper (available at select locations)
Unlimited local and toll-free calls
Airline Boarding Pass printing
Copies and faxes at the Front Desk and Concierge (does not include color and large print jobs)

Many of us at the event joked that we paid $25 for “Complementary WiFi.”

I’m not complaining. $74 a night is still a great price, but notice how well the Palms understands their customers decisions. The room rate is critical in that decision so the Palms works hard to keep that as low as possible. Then, once they have you on location, they try to make as much as possible, not only from their “resort fee” but also from food, gambling, and more.

I ate in the resort the entire time, because it was convenient and there weren’t any restaurants within easy walking distance. Their restaurants were a little pricey, but not ridiculous. My breakfasts were about $15, one lunch was about the same, and one dinner was well over $100 at their steak place. The food was good so again I’m not complaining. Just pointing out their pricing strategy.

Don’t forget the gambling. Of course they want you to gamble. I played a little video poker. Won $6 the first night and lost $20 the second, so they got another $14 from me.

There are many other ways they can get your money that I didn’t experience. For example, they had a spa, a shopping area and even a fortune teller.

The key lesson here though, the Palms Resort clearly priced the room at a very low price to attract customers. The room rate was the factor that helped people choose the Palms over other locations. Then, once their customers check in, they find other ways to earn profit.

You should be thinking the exact same way. What product or service do your customers use to decide whether or not to engage with you? Consider pricing that product aggressively to attract more customers. Of course, that only makes sense if you have add-on products and services where you can make the profit you give up from your aggressive pricing tactics. If you don’t have additional means to make profit from your customers, then it’s very difficult to be aggressive with the price on the original product.

You may be thinking this is deceptive and you don’t want to do it. What happens to you if your competitors implement this strategy? If they have the ability to charge very low prices for the decision product, how will you compete? Maybe the owner of the Palms Resort doesn’t really like doing business this way, but the Rio and the Orleans resorts, both close by, use this pricing strategy. The Palms doesn’t really have a choice if they want to stay in business.